more fungi

Another one from the end of last year. I was trying out Phil's method here using a gold reflector + diffuser to give a soft warm light and my coat to shade the background.

Thanks to those who gave suggestions for ID books last time, I've just ordered Michael Jordan's book so hopefully I'll have IDs on my fungi shots soon

cheers

Graham

Nikon D70,
Tamron 90mm
1.3s @ f29
Lightroom beta4

Hi Graham

Another excellent closeup mushroom shot, you have controlled the light very well here with excellent detail in the mushroom. One thing I might have tried with this shot is putting a plain black panel behind the mushroom to remove the slightly busy background. A minor issue though, the background isn't a real problem in this shot.

Nice one

cheers

Sean

Is this what photographers do when there's not too many bird around? I'm considering insects and butterflies in the summer already! Don't tell me it's a natural progression to fungi I agree with Sean that perhaps this type of shot could do with a cleaner BG, but it#'s probably the first mushroom I've commented on so what do I know

Nice detail and comp

Graeme

Hi Graham

Nice shot in ideal lighting for the subject - I can see what Sean is saying re. BG but yours is more than OK!

David

I've had a few goes at fungi myself and although they don't fly away, it is still not easy. The lighting and background look fine to me - a pure black background could look unnatural I think. When I find what initially looks like an ideal specimen or group, closer inspection usually reveals a slug or a squirrel or something has "had a go" and left scars or obtrusive marks. This has happened here on the lower left but in fact it is not too obvious and doesn't detract from a nice pic.
Jim
PS Lying around in the woods in the wet leaf litter doesn't half prompt some funny looks from passers by!

thanks for the comments. I agree the background is a little distracting but I don't like using artificial backgrounds as they tend to be a bit too uniform. I definitely got some odd looks from dog walkers, particularly as it always started raining when I went out for fungi. I did have trouble finding any specimens in good condition as I missed the best few weeks with a broken hand and this was getting towards the end of the season

Hi Graham....

The lighting is handled very well here (have to say that ) nicely softened to bring out the interesting detail in the fungi, shame about the damage to the lower specimen appreciate it can be difficult finding a perfect specimen...

I do believe you have stopped down too far here, on an APS sensor with the pixel density of the D70 you shouldn't really go below f16, after this diffraction starts to rear its ugly head, plus a wider aperture would have helped the bg melt a touch more.

Still a nice image.